Tuesday, 5 April 2016

Jacques Forêt, rural gendarme, talks about the Cévennes…

Today I'm interviewing my central character, Jacques, who is here to tell us about how he finds life in the Cévennes

AW You’ve lived here in Messandrierre for about 2 years now,
Jacques, don’t you miss Paris at all?

A village scene

JF Of course! Paris will
always be home to me. But the Cévennes
has its own attractions. The scenery
is rugged; there are vast tracts of forest and in between lots of charming
villages. And we have some significant
mountain peaks here, Mont Lozère is about 1700m above sea level, Mont Aigoual is
just a little less than 1600m and the Corniche des Cévennes, a series of
smaller peaks, rises to just under 1000m.
The Cévennes is on the southern aspect of the Massif Central and covers
parts of the departement of Gard, Lozère, Hérault and Ardèche. A tributary of the river Gard rises here
just north of St-André-de-Valborgne.

AW Lots of mountains and river valleys then. So what’s the weather like all year round?

JF From May to October it’s usually very warm and we
have plenty of sun. But with the
mountains, the weather can change very quickly. Autumn and winter can come early and up on the peaks there can
be icy winds that sweep down into the valleys.
So from October the temperature falls sharply and we often get a lot of
rain and in January and February there is frequently snow in the village.

AW Does that mean you ski Jacques?

JF Err…no.
I’ve never learned how to ski.
This countryside is good for walking and, on a cold bright winter’s day,
with snow on the ground, the scenery is beautiful. You should come back and see for yourself!

Scenic walks

AW And that wink was out of order, Jacques! Now, you were telling me about walking
here. Are the paths clearly defined and
how difficult are they?

JFThe ones through the forest surrounding the village are well
sign-posted and they are reasonably easy for most people. But proper walking boots are essential as
the terrain can be very rough. There
are other longer routes with difficult climbs and I would only recommend those
for people who are used to walking in mountainous areas.

AW And what about the hunting, shooting and fishing
here?

JF Ahh, you hunt?
That surprises me!

AW No I don’t, but hunting, shooting and fishing are sports that all
have a significant following in the UK.

JF And here in France too, especially this area. From August most of the tourists who visit
come here for the hunting. We have
deer, stag and boar to hunt. From later
September and in October you can buy ready-prepared Sanglier au Armagnac in the
local supermarkets. You should try
this. And of course there is fishing in
the many rivers and lakes in the area.
But anyone who comes to hunt here must have the correct permits.

AW Of course.
As a policeman, Jacques, I wouldn’t expect you to say anything else!Meet Jacques and the other villagers in my novel Messandrierre. With more than 20 fabulous reviews on Amazon it is a snip of a read at 99p/99c. Just follow the link. Amazon

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Merle

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Messandrierre

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